Ivy Coach College Admissions Blog

Carol Folt, the interim president of Dartmouth College, will be the next chancellor of UNC at Chapel Hill (photo credit: Yeungb).

UNC at Chapel Hill has named a new chancellor and she hails from Dartmouth College. Carol Folt, Dartmouth’s interim president who took over the college after Jim Yong Kim departed to run the World Bank, was announced as the new UNC chancellor on Friday. And for the first time in 224 years, the chancellor job at UNC has gone to a woman. That’s right, Carol Folt has shattered this glass ceiling. As you may know, Dartmouth recently announced that Philip J. Hanlon would be the new president of Dartmouth College, but it wasn’t as though Folt was overlooked for the position. In a classy move, Folt did not put herself in consideration for the top position at the Ivy League college. Was it to save face if she thought she wouldn’t get the job or because she thought she’d serve the college better on an interim basis? Who knows. But she made history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this week.

According to an article in “The Daily Tar Heel by Amelia Nitz and Nicole Comparato on the next UNC chancellor,” “Though he would not disclose Folt’s name, Chancellor Holden Thorp said in an interview Thursday afternoon that the candidate was well-known and a distinguished leader. ‘It’s somebody that I didn’t know very well until the process, but since I’ve gotten to meet that person I’ve been really impressed, and think they have a great reputation around the country,’ Thorp said. Folt was one of three candidates presented to Ross by the 21-member chancellor search committee that has been working since October. Regarding Ross’s decision, Thorp said he has good options. ‘I don’t think he could have gone wrong.’ Thorp said.”

UNC is quite a bit bigger than Dartmouth (five times its size). Dartmouth has a little over 6,000 students. UNC has almost 30,000 student. Dartmouth is a private institution. UNC is a public institution. Dartmouth is in cold New Hampshire. UNC is in warm North Carolina. The Dartmouth basketball team regularly finishes at the bottom of their league. The UNC basketball team is historically one of the finest in collegiate basketball, the alma mater of such stars as Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Sam Perkins, and Brad Daugherty to name just a few. But, nonetheless, we suspect UNC will be very pleased with their choice of Carol Folt as their new chancellor.